Back in Business

I've neglected my blog for long enough.  Time to get back in business. 

With the New Year coming up, i am going to write not only AAR's of games played, and with better photos now that i have a new phone with a better camera, but also some commentary about gaming in general.

Finally, here is a quick update of games i've played since my last post back in May:

New Doug and I spent a couple of months playing Mark Miklos's excellent "Battles of the American Revolution" series.  We played "Guilford Courthouse" with my Red Coats smashing Doug's Rebels.  It was Doug's first game so he gets a pass.  We also played this outside in my gazeebo during a beautiful summer night.  First time i've played a wargame outside and at night.  We will be doing more outside gaming again come next summer.

We followed that up with "Eutaw Springs."  Doug wanted the Brits this time, and in a really close, back and forth game, my American troops were able to prevail.  We played this at Doug's house in the city, and i was in traffic over 2 hours driving in.  Chicago sucks that way.

We finished off the series with "Pensacola" which is a seige battle.  I give this high marks for creativity, although there are some rules questions that need answered.  Doug again took the Brits while i had the attacking Spanish.  I never knew the Spanish actually fought during the Am. Rev. War, so i learned something new.

"Pensacola" is long by BAR standards--2 school nights are needed.  The first night we played all the way up until the final battle.  Doug sortied nicely, killing some of my units, but more importantly, he destroyed one of my seige works.  I did manage a couple of breaches and it looked like the final assault was going to be a close fight.  Unfortunatley, Chicago was hit by heavy rains and i got some water in my basement and i had to shelve the game before we could finish.  I definatley want to get this back on the table again as it is a very intriguing battle.

Next up was the St. Louis ASL Tourney where i finished 4-1, but a disappointing 4-1 as i really blew the 4rth game after taking a nice lead.  Still, good times for sure.

I travelled down to St. Louis again in October for some gaming with my brother Dale, Jim Burris, and some other old friends.  We played "Small World," "Dominion," and a big game of "Descent."  "Descent" is one of my favorites.  I plan on buying my own copy once the 2nd edition comes out in 2012.

Next, New Doug and i returned to an old favorite of my, Ben Hull's Musket and Pike Series.  We chose the Warksow scenario from the newest module.  Doug had the defending Danes versus my attacking Swedes.  Fantastic series, although i was really rusty on the rules and we spent quite a bit of time looking things up.  By the end though, we were running smooth and Doug managed a win by swiftly moving his right wing over to his left and charging my outnumbered cav.  We took about equal losses there, but that was more than enough to get him the win as i needed +20 or so VP's.  We will be playing more MPS in the future.

I then did some Euro gaming with Doug and some of his neighbors.  We played "Dominion" and "Galaxy Trucker."  I liked both games and we had some good laughs.

Finally, i hosted a game of "Mansions of Madness."  MoM is very similar to "Descent" with one player being the bad guy versus the rest of the players being investigators trying to solve a mystery.  Outstanding game with wonderful graphics.  My brother Gerald joined Doug and Jeff Hallett as the investigators while i played the Keeper.  The good guys won by figuring out their objective early thanks to Kate's special ability, and were able to high tail it out before i could get my minions in place to stop them.  Lots of drinking, laughs, and taunting.  I am hosting another game next week and will post am ore indepth AAR.

That's it for now.  Happy Hollidays.